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Tools for the Homeschool Handy-MomTue, 31 Mar 2015 14:15:24 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.2Gabriel and the Hour Book {Free eBook}http://diyhomeschooler.com/gabriel-and-the-hour-book-free-ebook/
http://diyhomeschooler.com/gabriel-and-the-hour-book-free-ebook/#respondMon, 02 Mar 2015 14:57:22 +0000http://diyhomeschooler.com/?p=24650Gabriel and the Hour Book by Evaleen Stein takes place during the time when monks copied and illuminated manuscripts.

Manuscript books were copies of the Bible … written out by hand. Persons called copyists made a business of drawing or writing manuscript books. Most of the copyists were monks. who lived in monasteries, where often there was a room set apart for their work, called the writing room. Copying was slow work. To copy a book like the Bible took all of a year, and when this was done well it took two or three years.

Gabriel is a peasant who lives near Normandy and who visits the abbey every day to grind and mix the colors for the monks who live there. He befriends one particular monk, the best illustrator in the abbey — a friendship that greatly benefits them both.

Working with the best and being industrious, Gabriel ends up becoming an illustrator in his own right. Meanwhile, his work captures the attention of someone who holds the fate of Gabriel’s family. Of course, all turns out well — Gabriel and his family enjoy a very special Christmas and he … well, you’ll have to read to the end.

Gabriel and the Hour Book is a captivating story that reveals the lengths to which those who illuminated manuscripts went to achieve the desired effect. It is an enjoyable read that captures this time in history in a living way. Kings and castles, abbeys and monks, troubles and solutions. Great read — and free!

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]]>http://diyhomeschooler.com/groundhog-day-2015/feed/012 Days of Christmas {Activities}http://diyhomeschooler.com/12-days-of-christmas-activities/
http://diyhomeschooler.com/12-days-of-christmas-activities/#respondThu, 18 Dec 2014 14:35:15 +0000http://diyhomeschooler.com/?p=23597Everyone is probably familiar with the popular Christmas song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” originally published in the late 1700s. The song lists the gifts someone gave to his or her true love — the number of gifts representing each day of the twelve days of Christmas beginning December 25 and continuing through January 5. The song is cumulative, meaning each verse includes the gifts of the previous days.

There are many traditions associated with the song that attempt to assign meanings to the gifts — everything from each of them representing birds (five golden-ringed pheasants, for example) to weather predictions. One of the more recent interpretations involved a conjecture by Hugh D. McKellar, a retired school teacher and hymologist, that the gifts represented a type of catechism.

By 1909, no one much wanted to recall the situation which had called the catechism-songs into being; but neither did everyone forget. Thus my first intimations that something lay below the surface of “The Twelve Days” came from elderly people who had moved to Canada from the north of England; their memories yielded more than I have ever managed to find in print. In any case, really evocative symbols do not allow of definitive explication, exhausting all possibilities. I can at most report what this song’s symbols have suggested to me in the course of four decades, hoping thereby to start you on your own quest.

“The Twelve Days of Christmas” by Hugh D. McKellar, October 1994

McKellar’s conjectures were picked by up others and the idea gained traction, despite the lack of evidence.

In any case, the song can be used to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas, to learn more about the main tenets of the Christian faith, or simply to enjoy a cumulative round!

Suggestions:

Create a 12 Days of Christmas notebook using Drawing & Writing Paper to illustrate each day’s gift, copy the verses that go with the gift, and add something interesting that was learned about the gift.

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]]>http://diyhomeschooler.com/12-days-of-christmas-activities/feed/0How the Grinch Stole Christmas {Review & Activities}http://diyhomeschooler.com/how-the-grinch-stole-christmas-review-activities/
http://diyhomeschooler.com/how-the-grinch-stole-christmas-review-activities/#respondTue, 16 Dec 2014 16:16:37 +0000http://diyhomeschooler.com/?p=23138There is one Christmastime favorite that we revisit year after year: How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss. While youngsters delight in the simple, captivating language, the older students ponder the meaning of the tangible elements of the story:

Why did the Grinch dislike Christmas so much?

What does it mean when one’s heart is “two sizes too small”?

Why did the noise and singing particularly bother the Grinch?

The Grinch doesn’t stop at merely hating Christmas — the whole Christmas season. No, he decides to do something about it. What if he steals Christmas? Rids every Who down in Whoville of all of the outward manifestations of their Christmas celebrations? Then Christmas won’t come this year.

Of course, the Grinch finds that the trimmings and trappings of the Christmas celebrations in Whoville weren’t really what Christmas was about at all.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas should be a standard on the Christmas reading list each and every year, from childhood through adulthood. Because even adults can use the reminder:

]]>http://diyhomeschooler.com/how-the-grinch-stole-christmas-review-activities/feed/0Favorite Site: Christmas Karaokehttp://diyhomeschooler.com/favorite-site-christmas-karaoke/
http://diyhomeschooler.com/favorite-site-christmas-karaoke/#respondMon, 15 Dec 2014 14:44:11 +0000http://diyhomeschooler.com/?p=23400OK, we’re not much for karaoke of any type around here. Despite the name, Christmas Karaoke is a site too excellent to miss! So grab your little ones, gather up the family, choose a Christmas carol or song and start singing!

Christmas Karaoke (ad-free!) is very simple to navigate. Select either Christmas carols or Christmas songs. There are over 50 songs to choose from. Each song includes lyrics and a simple, but quality, MIDI background (with melody). A print icon makes it easy to print the lyrics.

]]>http://diyhomeschooler.com/favorite-site-christmas-karaoke/feed/0Twas the Night Before Christmas Copywork Set {Free}http://diyhomeschooler.com/twas-the-night-before-christmas-copywork-set-free/
http://diyhomeschooler.com/twas-the-night-before-christmas-copywork-set-free/#respondThu, 11 Dec 2014 14:53:22 +0000http://diyhomeschooler.com/?p=23509Copywork is a language arts activity that is particularly appealing during the holiday season — simple and yet very effective. We have created a set of copywork pages to go along with the public domain version of Twas the Night Before Christmas illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith.

There are two different ways to use these pages. They are set up for copying the stanza that goes with the illustration. You’ll find there are several stanzas that were not illustrated. Use the blank page at the back to have your student create his own illustration for those verses.

Another way to use the pages is to have the student describe what is going on in the illustration.

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]]>http://diyhomeschooler.com/twas-the-night-before-christmas-copywork-set-free/feed/0Christmas Gift Ideashttp://diyhomeschooler.com/christmas-gift-ideas/
http://diyhomeschooler.com/christmas-gift-ideas/#respondWed, 10 Dec 2014 15:00:11 +0000http://diyhomeschooler.com/?p=23536Looking for useful Christmas gift ideas for your children this year? We’ve complied a list of 25 gift ideas for students at our HomeHearts site. These are gifts our own children have found useful throughout the years.

While there is nothing magic about our list, we have found that, especially for a homeschool family, investing in needed tools or a current interest seems to pay off in a gift that lasts longer than the wrapping paper! Hopefully our list will spark your own Christmas gift-giving ideas.

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]]>http://diyhomeschooler.com/christmas-gift-ideas/feed/0Twas the Night Before Christmas {Free eBook & Go-Alongs}http://diyhomeschooler.com/twas-the-night-before-christmas-free-ebook-go-alongs/
http://diyhomeschooler.com/twas-the-night-before-christmas-free-ebook-go-alongs/#respondTue, 09 Dec 2014 15:04:56 +0000http://diyhomeschooler.com/?p=23142“Twas the Night Before Christmas” is a poem that was written by Dr. Clement C. Moore in the early 1800s. The poem, originally called “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” was written by Moore for his children. A friend of Moore submitted the poem to the Troy Sentinel (New York) a year later and it was published anonymously. It was reprinted several times before Moore finally accepted authorship and included it in a book of his own poems published in New York in 1844.
Clement C. Moore

Moore’s description of Old Saint Nick was probably taken from his friend Washington Irving’s descriptions as printed in A History of New York under the pen name Dietrich Knickerbocker. Those descriptions have certainly stood the test of time!

In 1912, a version of the poem was published with illustrations by the renowned Jessie Willcox Smith. This is the book that many of us from the ’50s and ’60s grew up on, and it is this version that is free in the public domain.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.

Free eBook

Suggestions:

Have your children rewrite the poem using modern language. For example, would children today have sugar plums dancing in their heads? Are they familiar with sugar plums? Or would it be some other type of candy?

Choose one or two stanzas to copy and illustrate. See resources below.

]]>http://diyhomeschooler.com/twas-the-night-before-christmas-free-ebook-go-alongs/feed/0A Christmas Carol (Enriched Classics) {Free eBook}http://diyhomeschooler.com/a-christmas-carol-enriched-classics-free-ebook/
http://diyhomeschooler.com/a-christmas-carol-enriched-classics-free-ebook/#respondMon, 08 Dec 2014 14:50:13 +0000http://diyhomeschooler.com/?p=22975Each year we re-read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Now you can download a free, unabridged, and enhanced version of this perennial Christmas favorite at no cost!

The free Enriched Classics Kindle version includes a introductory chronology of Charles Dickens’s life and work, and background information on the historical setting of A Christmas Carol. Inline links take you to interpretive notes that are helpful for explaining some of the terms of Dickens’s time that might not be so familiar in ours, for example:

Stave.

Dickens divided this work into staves, instead of chapters, just as a composer would divide a song or carol into saves (i.e., verses or stanzas).

‘Change.

The Royal Exchange. In other words, Scrooge has good credit with the bank.

Some may find the links a distraction, but others will appreciate the help in understanding the story and the wit, which might otherwise be lost on those unfamiliar with the vocabulary.

For those interested, questions for discussion are included that can be used as narration prompts.